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Hybrid Cars/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim is a passenger on a motorcycle driven by Moby. They pass a sign for a gas station. I told you we should've filled up on gas before we left. MOBY: Beep. Moby and Tim pull into a gas station. Moby hands Tim a letter. Tim reads from the typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what are hybrid cars? How do they work? From, Buster Moon. Well, if we wait, I'm sure we'll… there. Tim and Moby snap a picture of a car that drives by. TIM: That, Buster Moon, is a hybrid car. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, "hybrid" just means that it combines two different power sources to make it go. Most hybrid cars are gasoline-electric hybrid. Think of it as what you might get if a regular gas-powered car and an electric car had a baby. An image shows an electric car and a gas-powered car smiling at their baby car which is inside a stroller. TIM: In gas-powered cars, an engine burns gasoline to make the wheels turn. An animation shows the outline of a car. Inside the outline is the car's engine, fuel tank, and wheels turning. TIM: Burning gasoline produces plenty of power, but it has major drawbacks. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Right, it produces greenhouse gases like carbon monoxide; which pollute the air and contribute to global warming. Tim and Moby observe white smoke coming out of the tailpipe of a car at the gas station. TIM: And many conventional cars don't get very good mileage, that's how far you can drive on each gallon of gas. An animation illustrates the distance a car can travel on one gallon of gas. TIM: Poor mileage means you have to fill up often, which is more expensive for you and worse for the environment. Tim and Moby observe an SUV being filled up with gas at a gas pump. TIM: Electric cars pollute less because they run on electricity. An animation shows an electric car being charged up at a charging station. TIM: Instead of a gas engine, an electric car is powered by a motor that runs on a rechargeable battery. Since they don't burn gasoline, electric cars don't produce any harmful emissions, or polluting chemicals. An image shows the outline of an electric car with the motor and battery highlighted inside it. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, it's not that simple. The electricity from an outlet comes from power plants, which generally run on coal, gas, or nuclear power. So electric cars aren't totally clean. An animation shows the electric car being charged. The charging station is connected to a power plant that is giving off pollution. TIM: On top of that, a fully charged battery can only go a fraction of the distance of a full tank of gas. That means that electric cars spend a lot of time plugged in for recharging. An animation shows an electric car slowing down and stopping as a gas-powered car keeps driving. TIM: Hybrid cars, on the other hand, combine the benefits of gas and electric cars, while leaving out some of the drawbacks. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well hybrids feature both electric motors and gas engines similar to the ones in most cars. A hybrid engine is smaller, though. A smaller, lighter engine is more fuel efficient, using less gas and giving the car better mileage. An animation shows the outline of a hybrid car, with its gas engine, fuel tank, battery, and electric motor labeled. The engine is shown getting smaller. TIM: It also produces less pollution. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep, a smaller engine is less powerful. In fact, it can only power a car up to a certain speed. So when you want to go faster, or if you need more power to climb a steep hill or something, the electric motor kicks in as well. An image shows a hybrid car's speedometer. The speedometer reads 35 miles per hour and a picture below the speedometer indicates it is running on a gas engine. When the car accelerates to 60 miles per hour, a display shows that both the electric and gas motors are in use. There is also a picture of the car's battery level. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Exactly, when traffic slows to a crawl, or when you're stopped at a red light, the car doesn't need much power. The electric motor can handle the job on its own, so the gas engine shuts off completely. An animation shows the hybrid car stuck in traffic. When the car stops, the display shows the gas engine is not activated and the car is only running on the electric motor. TIM: And with the engine off, the tailpipe stops spitting out nasty pollutants. An animation shows what Tim describes. MOBY: Beep? TIM: That's the beauty of a hybrid, Moby: It never has to be plugged in because the battery gets recharged as you drive. When the battery power gets low, the gas engine starts burning gas to convert into extra electricity for the battery. An animation shows the battery display flashing and the gas engine display activated. TIM: And the electric motor helps recharge the battery with a nifty feature called regenerative braking. When you step on the brake pedal, the electric motor runs in reverse. In the process, it converts the car's motion into electricity. An animation shows the electric motor display activated and the battery level rising when the car's brakes are applied. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Oh, definitely. Hybrid technology is constantly improving and getting cheaper, so more hybrids are rolling onto the road every year. Images show different models of hybrid cars. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Hybrid Moby, eh? So what exactly are your power sources? Moby's chest opens up and reveals a beating heart. TIM: I, I don't want to know where you got that. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Science Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Engineering & Technology Transcripts